Previously on Seed of Doubt...
They slowly got their things together, double checking and triple checking that they had everything they needed to bring back home with them. Then they were off to see their daughter. Clark thought the girl looked somehow bigger and stronger than she had during the night. He dismissed the thought almost as soon as he had it as nothing more than a product of his imagination.
He held the baby for a long while, rocking her and getting to feed her a bottle. It was always good to see the girl awake long enough to eat. He cooed to her nonstop, keeping his voice low out of respect for the other parents in the room, including that of a critically ill little girl born at a mere twenty-six weeks.
When it came time for Lois to hold Julia and rock her for a while, Clark saw the occasional tear glimmering in her eyes. During those moments, he had to avert his eyes in order to maintain a grip on his own threatening tears. Seeing Lois' shattered heart was almost too much for him to handle.
At last, they both knew that it was time to go. Both of them were starving, so Clark drove to a local pizza place, all the while far too mindful of the empty car seat in the backseat of the Jeep. After a shared and somber pizza, they headed home. Clark unpacked the Jeep as Lois made her ponderous way up the stairs toward their bedroom. He winced as he watched her progress, knowing that she still ached from the incision and the pooled fluid in her legs. He helped her up the rest of the way by gathering her in his arms and floating up the stairs rather than mounting each individual step. Lois snuggled mutely against his chest - a silent show of her appreciation.
After Lois showered and dressed herself in comfortable pajamas, Clark took the opportunity to do the same. He left her reading a book in bed, but came out of the shower to find the bedroom empty. He didn't have to wonder where she was. He instinctively knew where to find her. He padded quietly down the hall in his bare feet, faint sounds of shuddering cries leading the way to the nursery. The door was slightly ajar so he pushed it open. It made no noise as he did so, thanks to the new hinges he'd put on it when he'd been fixing up the house.
Lois was sitting in the glider chair, absently rocking away the minutes as she cried. Her face was turned away from Clark, so she hadn't yet seen him standing there in the doorframe. He watched for a moment before entering the room.
"Lois?"
Lois sniffled and hastily wiped at her tears with the quilt that had come with the bedding set for the crib. "Oh, Clark," she said, sounding tired and upset. Those two simple words seemed to convey all her thoughts.
"Sweetie, it's okay," Clark said, kneeling down next to her. "This is not a permanent situation. Julia will be home before we know it."
"It's just...I never expected to leave the hospital empty handed," she said before another sob took her.
"I didn't either. But she's doing great."
"Everyone else gets to come home with their baby and I had to leave her behind." She sniffled and fell silent for a moment. "I'm horrible, aren't I?"
"No, Lois," Clark said, shaking his head. "What makes you say that?"
"All those other people with babies in the NICU, in worse shape than Julia. They'll be there for months, and that's if their children come home at all. And here I am complaining."
"Sometimes, bad things happen. But it doesn't make you a bad person at all for wishing things had turned out ideally for us even when they haven't for others," Clark told her. He reached out and put a hand on her knee.
Her hand covered his. "I know. Logically, I know she's fine, that's she's in good hands, that she's healthy. But I can't help but worry. What if she gets scared? Or they run out of my milk? You know I'm not producing a lot. What if something else happens? What if some nurse gives her to the wrong family? What if...?"
Clark smiled at her. That stopped Lois in mid-sentence. A wrinkle creased her brow as she caught Clark's smile.
"What?"
"Nothing. It's just...I love watching you like this."
"Like what? An absolute wreck?"
Clark smiled again. "No," he said, shaking his head slightly. "Being a mom."
Lois smiled slightly at that. "You think so?"
"I know so."
***
"Hi, Julia," Lois said in a perky, sing-song voice as the grandmotherly Nurse Opal placed her into Lois' arms. "Hi, baby. Did you have a good night's sleep? Hmm?" The baby yawned in response and immediately grabbed Lois' index finger and brought it to her mouth. "Clark! Look!" she said excitedly, showing him Julia's latest accomplishment.
"Good job!" Clark praised the baby. Though she'd grabbed their fingers before, suckling on the digit was new. "What a big, strong girl you are!"
"How'd she do last night?" Lois asked as Vanessa Halleran, the nurse they'd mostly been dealing with, came over to see them.
"Really well," the woman replied. "You can see that we've removed the oxygen tubes. The change in her breathing over the last week has been really impressive. We've been monitoring her without the extra oxygen boost since eight o'clock last night, while you were both still here. She went all night long without needing any support and without showing any dips in her oxygen saturation levels."
"That's fantastic!" Lois exclaimed in a hushed voice, mindful, as always, of the other families in the room.
Vanessa nodded. "Mmm-hmm. Actually, she's done so well that the doctor graduated her today. No more extra oxygen for this little lady."
Clark sighed in relief. It was like a weight had been lifted from his own chest. In a way, it was like he himself could finally breathe now.
"That's great," he said, beaming. "Does that mean we can take her home now?"
"That's up to the doctor," Vanessa said. "He should be around in a few hours to check on her temperature. She's been holding steady with it for three days now, so that's very encouraging." She gave them a sly smile. "If I had to guess though, I'd say that you'll need an extra place setting this Thanksgiving."
Clark gaped. "Are you sure?" Thanksgiving was the following day.
Vanessa shrugged. "Of course I can't be one hundred percent certain, but knowing Dr. Williams, I'd be surprised if Julia was still here in the morning and not home with you."
"Did you hear that, Julia?" Lois cooed to the baby. "You might be going home with Mommy and Daddy today." Clark saw her cradle the newborn extra closely, as if she'd lost some fear that she might hurt the child simply by holding her so closely.
Clark pulled over an empty chair to sit, since the isolette to Julia's left was unoccupied. His heart hurt seeing the clear plastic incubator empty. Just the night before, it had held the unbelievably small and frail form of a baby boy named Mark, who'd been born at twenty-eight weeks. Clark sent out a quick, silent wish for comfort for the boy's grieving mother, Claire, who he'd spent some time speaking with as the three of them had kept vigil over their babies.
"I can't wait to bring you home," Clark said as he peered over Lois to look at Julia's face. He couldn't get over how alert and bright-eyed she seemed this morning. "You know, Mommy and I bought that house for you. Yes, we did. A whole house for you to run around and play in!"
He smiled over at Lois. In a way, it was true. They had chosen the place so that they would have a place to grow their family.
"Actually," Lois confided to the infant, "we really have Daddy to thank for the house. He found it and convinced me to take a chance on it."
Julia just blinked as she stared up at the face of her mother and continued to suck on Lois' finger. Lois gently removed the digit from between the baby's gums and looked to Clark. He was already on the move though, knowing exactly what the baby needed. He went to the small fridge at Julia's bedside and removed two small bottles - one of breast milk and the other of formula. Carefully making sure that no one was looking and with his back to the rest of the room, he lowered his glasses. Exercising extreme care, he used his heat vision to warm the bottles to room temperature. Then he pushed his glasses back up his nose and turned to Lois.
"Here we go," he said, announcing the arrival of food to his daughter. "One delicious meal, coming right up."
"Thanks, Clark," Lois said gratefully. Then, to the baby, "Look what Daddy got for you!"
The nipple slid into the baby's waiting mouth and she eagerly sucked down the contents. Once she was done with the first bottle, she happily went to work on the second one. Lois rocked her in silence as she ate. Clark mutely watched, loving every moment of seeing Lois as a mother. Once the bottles were empty, Lois gently patted Julia's back, and the infant loosed a healthy burp. Clark and Lois both laughed.
"Nice one, kiddo!" he praised her.
Julia seemed to smile in response, though Clark knew from his reading that it was a reflex and nothing more.
"You want to hold her?" Lois asked.
"Absolutely," Clark replied.
Lois stood and carefully transferred the bundled infant to his waiting arms. A smile spread across his lips as he looked into the eyes of his child. She stared back, appearing to be almost entranced.
How could I ever have doubted? he wondered. There is no way in Heaven or on Earth that I could not love this little girl. She's my world. She and Lois are my world.
"What?" Lois asked, scrutinizing his face.
"Nothing," he replied as Julia opened her mouth in a yawn. "Just thinking, that's all."
"About what?" she pressed.
Clark sighed. He hated to tell Lois exactly what he was thinking. But he'd also promised her that he would never lie to her ever again, ever since she'd discovered his dual identities. Looking at her expectant face, he knew he had no choice but to tell her.
"To be honest, Lois, until I saw Julia, there was always this little kernel of fear inside of me, that I wouldn't feel this life-changing connection with her, given the circumstances of her conception. Especially given my chances of ever biologically fathering a child. I know, I know," he said, lifting a hand to fend off her argument, "but we have to be realistic here. Anyway, I was just wondering how I ever could have doubted anything. No matter that the DNA results tell us, I could not love her more."
"I know," Lois said with a tender smile of her own. "I see it every time you look at her."
"Sometimes, I look at her and it's like my heart is literally breaking," Clark continued. "I just love her so much. It's no different when I look at you. Given...everything...we've been through, I look at you and can't believe that you've chosen to love me. Being a part of this family," he said, gesturing to the three of them, "is the greatest miracle I've ever experienced in my life."
Lois' smile broadened. "I never chose to love you, Clark. It wasn't a decision I made. It's just natural for me to love you - like breathing or having a heartbeat. It's like the love I have for our daughter. It simply is not an option to not love you. Does that make any sense?"
"Actually, it makes perfect sense to me," Clark said. "Because that's how I've felt about you, ever since the moment I met you. It didn't matter that when we met you were ranting to Perry and interrupting my interview," he said with a wink. "It was like...like lightning struck my brain, to be perfectly cliché. I loved you in that moment and that love only grew as I got to know you."
He bent his neck and kissed his daughter on her forehead. "I love you, Julia."
They spent the better part of the morning switching their daughter between them. Clark would give Lois breaks to get up and stretch, or to use the bathroom, or just to give her arms a break. And she would take Julia so that he could stretch his legs, or get them both some coffee, or, once, to allow him to respond to an emergency - a scuffle just down the street with had ended with one of the two men suffering a serious stab wound to his chest.
"Hello, hello," a rotund and bespectacled man said, just after Lois and Clark finished their simple chicken salad wraps for lunch. "I'm Dr. Williams."
Clark gently extracted his hand from where it was entangled in the blankets Julia was wrapped in. He'd been playing with her minute fingers, getting a thrill every time she wiggled them in response to him when he moved his own fingers. He quickly shook the doctor's hand, noting how firm and business-like the man's shake was.
"Nice to meet you, Dr. Williams," Lois said as he turned and shook her hand.
"I'd like to examine your daughter, if that's okay." He smiled through his bushy reddish beard.
"Yeah, sure," Clark said, lifting Julia away from his chest and holding her out to the doctor.
Clark felt as though he didn't dare breathe while the doctor checked Julia's vital signs and checked through the overnight chart. He sent up a silent prayer that everything would check out for the best and that his daughter could finally come home. Attempts to read the doctor's thoughts through his expressions proved fruitless. The man could rival Superman in his stoic appearance.
"Mmm-hmm," the doctor hummed to himself as he turned the last page of the chart. He nodded to himself. "Well," he finally announced, looking up at them for the first time since entering the room. "Things look excellent. There's just one more thing and then Julia can go home with you."
"Today?" Lois asked. Clark knew from the inflection in her voice that she was trying hard not to get her hopes up.
"Today," Dr. Williams said with another smile.
Lois let out a strangled sigh of relief, a sound that was all but choked with happy tears. Clark thought he might have heard her gratefully say "oh, God," in that sound. Tears sprang into her eyes and pooled there, glistening like wet stars.
"So, what do we have to do?" Clark asked on Lois' behalf.
"Do you have her car seat with you?"
Clark nodded. "It's down in the car, yeah."
"We just have to sit her in it for a while and see how she does. If she tolerates sitting in the seat well, we'll discharge her and you can take her home. Just in time for Thanksgiving," he added.
"Clark? Could you...?"
"Uh-huh," Clark said, hardly daring to hope, though his heart was racing with the promise of having his daughter home just one more test away. "I'll be right back."
He had to restrain himself from running down the hall, flying down the stairwell, and speeding to the Jeep where it was parked in the hospital's parking lot. He was glad the seat was in the car and not at home. Every day, and most of the time more than once a day, they had both glanced at the empty seat in the car. Each time, it had torn Clark's soul to shreds knowing that their daughter would once more be left behind and the empty seat shuttled to and from their house and the hospital. But now! Now having Julia at home was within a finger's reach from them. All she had to do was prove that she could sit in her seat without any problems.
Clark reached the car, extracted the seat, and shouldered the small duffle bag Lois had packed with potential outfits for their daughter. That bag, like the car seat, had been sitting in the trunk, a constant reminder that Julia could not yet come home with them. But now, ¬finally, Lois would be able to choose a "coming home" outfit for their precious little angel. He couldn't wait to see what she would pick.
Entering back into the hospital, he felt so light that he felt in danger of floating. He wanted to sing and dance and tell the whole world that Julia Kent was on her way home. It was a struggle to remind himself that she still had to pass one more test. In his heart though, there was no doubt that she would pass that test with flying colors.
"Back," he announced in a hushed whisper as he rejoined Lois in the NICU. "What'd I miss?"
"One very dirty diaper," she quipped with a smile.
Clark laughed. "Good timing on my part," he teased with a crooked smile.
Lois laughed too. "Yeah."
The nurse, Opal, saw that he had returned with the car seat. She came over and gently eased Julia into the seat. The baby protested a little at the unexpected movement and the loss of contact with her mother. Lois murmured soothing words to the girl and, after a minute or two, the infant's cries lessened and broke off. She closed her eyes and slept, while the wires continued to monitor her.
An hour passed in this manner, with Vanessa continuously checking in on things in between checking her other charges. Finally, she turned to Lois and Clark, a bright, genuine smile on her face. Clark's heart leapt into his throat.
"Congratulations! I'm evicting you today," she joked with them as she removed the wires and electrodes that had kept constant vigil on Julia's vital signs.
"You are?" Lois asked excitedly. In her joy, her voice broke free of the perpetual whisper she kept while in the hospital.
"I am," Vanessa confirmed. "She's passed the test better than I imagined she would. You can bring her home."
"Did you hear that?" Lois asked Clark. "She's coming home with us. She's finally coming home." She spoke the words into his shoulder as she hugged him tightly.
Clark responded by giving her a kiss. He kept it brief and innocent, mindful of where they were.
"Thank you. Thank you so much," Clark said, releasing Lois and shaking Vanessa's hand.
"I'm really happy for you," Vanessa said, smiling. "You're such a great family. Now, go on. Get her dressed and ready to go home."
"Clark?" Lois asked.
"Yeah?"
"You've been so great throughout this whole ordeal. I think you should pick her going home outfit."
"Me? But you've been looking forward to this," he replied.
Lois gave him a shallow nod. "That's true, but, really, it's been about going home, more than anything. You've been such a pillar of strength for me and for Julia this past week or so. It's only right that you should pick out what she gets to wear home."
"Okay," Clark said after a moment. "But only if you promise to be the one to dress her. Her mommy should do that."
Lois smiled tenderly. "Deal."
Clark opened the bag and rooted around inside for a moment. Lois had packed half a dozen different options, it seemed. He disregarded them and went for one specific one. He pulled it out a few seconds later.
"Where did that one come from?" Lois asked.
She took the outfit from him to look it over. It was a soft fleece zippered pajama. The pajamas were white and covered with prancing, rearing unicorns and flying pegasi in baby pink and purple, with a scattering of pale yellow and blue stars in the background.
"I bought it for her, the night we had to go home without her. You fell asleep early and I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried. So I went out," he said, making their symbol for Superman. "It was a quiet night and before I knew it, I was at that new baby store on Versailles Place. I went in and saw this hanging on the rack. I couldn't help but to buy it for her. Do you like it?"
"Like it? I love it. It's adorable!" she said with genuine enthusiasm. "You've got good taste. At least, in baby clothes," she amended after less than a second. "Your ties leave a lot to be desired."
Clark feigned a pout. "What's wrong with my ties?"
"The one you wore to the Armstrong verdict looked like a two year old got into a box of markers."
Clark deepened his pout. "I liked that one."
"And this is exactly why I'll be buying your ties for now on," she smirked.
"You can help," he teased.
Lois shook her head in a silent laugh. She turned her attention back to Julia and started to get her daughter dressed for the most important ride of her young life - that which would take her home. Clark merely watched on, beaming with pride. As the hospital blankets were removed and the pajamas he'd purchased were put on, their old life at last fell away and their new one finally began.
***
"I'll get it," Clark told Lois as she relaxed on the couch with Julia, an old black and white movie on the television, though neither one had been paying much attention to it. He stood and crossed to the door, just as the doorbell rang again. "Mom? Dad? What are you doing here? I thought I was coming out to get you in another hour?" he asked as he opened the door to let them in.
"Oh, we were able to get an earlier flight," Martha said, dismissing his confusion with the wave of a hand. "And we got a cab from the airport right away. I hope it's okay that we're early."
Clark smiled as he hugged her. "Of course it's fine. I just wish you would let me fly you guys in."
"Nonsense. You've got more important things to do around here than to be bothered flying us in," Jonathan said. "Lois? How are you feeling?"
"Still a little sore from the surgery, but your son has been amazing at trying to keep me comfortable and on time with the pain meds," she said as she stood.
"Oh my God! Is this her?" Jonathan said, his voice melting into a sing-song as he caught his first glimpse of the baby. "She's beautiful!"
"Oh, she really is," Martha put in as she stepped forward to greet Lois and Julia. "Hi, Julia, sweetheart! We've been waiting so long to meet you. We're so happy that you're at home. Yes, we are!" She looked questioning at Lois. "May I?"
"Absolutely," Lois said as she handed Julia over to her grandmother. "I'm so glad you guys could come out."
"Of course," Jonathan said. "We've been dying to meet her." He peered at the baby's face for a long moment. "She looks just like you, Lois."
"I think so too," Clark said.
The truth was, every day and every night since Julia's birth, he'd scrutinized her features, committing them to memory and searching for any hint that she might resemble him. It didn't matter to him either way, but he supposed all parents looked to see if their child shared any features with them. He'd found neither traits of himself nor of Luthor, only a perfect carbon copy of Lois. And that was just fine with him.
"It's like someone cloned Lois," he joked.
Lois just smiled up at him with a playfully self-satisfied look on her face. He stifled the laugh in his throat.
"Can I get you something to drink?" Lois offered.
"Some ice water would be good," Jonathan said, clearing his throat a little.
"I'll get it," Clark told her. Then, to everyone, "Be right back."
He headed off into the kitchen and filled a pitcher with water from the sink. Using a blast of his icy breath, he chilled the water and then made some ice cubes to dump in. He retrieved a few lemons, sliced them into wedges in case anyone wanted one, and put them in a separate dish. As he was taking some glasses out of the cabinet, his super hearing picked up the sound of the doorbell. He heard Lois open the door and greet her parents.
"Mom? Daddy?" she asked, her voice unashamedly conveying her confusion over seeing her parents show up together. "What, uh...?"
"What are we doing here, together?" Sam asked. "Turns out your mother and I booked rooms in the same hotel without knowing it. We bumped into each other in the lobby this morning when we went to get some coffee and decided to split a cab since we were both headed to the same place."
"The cabbies here are little better than highway robbers," Ellen complained.
Clark grabbed some extra glasses as he listened and then put everything on one of Lois' serving trays. He added a package of chocolate chip cookies and made his way back to the living room.
"I'm surprised you didn't have Lucy meet you at the hotel too," Lois was saying as Clark reentered the room.
Ellen rolled her eyes. "Your sister," she said with no small tone of harrumph! in her voice, "will be the death of me."
"Sam. Ellen," Clark said by way of greeting. He allowed himself to sound caught off-guard that they had arrived. "Welcome."
"Hi there, Clark," Sam said, warmly enough. He shook Clark's hand.
"Hi, Clark," Ellen said, giving him a quick hug.
He had to admit, it was progress. Ever since he and Lois had become engaged, both of Lois' parents had warmed up to him more than they had been when he and Lois had been a dating couple with a child on the way.
"Mom, Dad," Lois said, directing them both toward Clark's parents. "These are Clark's parents, Jonathan and Martha. My parents, Sam and Ellen," she said, gesturing between the two sets of parents. "And this," she said, accepting the baby as Martha handed her back over, "is Julia."
Ellen had her arms out and Lois dutifully handed Julia over. "She's gorgeous!" she immediately proclaimed.
"She looks just like you did as a baby, Princess," Sam agreed.
Clark could see Lois beaming with pride as her parents gushed over little Julia. It made Clark's own heart swell as well. Seeing the Lanes as well as his own parents so excited over this new child was something so incredible that he didn't quite have the words to describe it. It wasn't often that he found himself utterly without words - after all, shaping words and phrases was how he made his living. But now he simply stood and watched, unable to forge a single coherent thought.
Jonathan moved over to stand at Clark's side. He gently, but firmly, clapped his son on the shoulder.
"Congratulations, Clark," he said with a smile in his voice.
"Thanks, Dad."
"She really is beautiful."
Clark shook his head lightly. "That's all Lois' doing," he said.
Jonathan nodded his head to the side. Clark dipped his head in acknowledgement, and together the two wandered slightly away from the group to stand near Lois' fish tank. Jonathan leaned against the wall and folded his arms over his chest. For a moment, all he did was look across the room to where everyone else was hovering over Julia.
"So, how are you doing with everything?" Jonathan finally asked.
It was a simple question, with no hidden meanings. Clark knew from his father's neutral tone of voice that he didn't mean anything more than what he'd asked. He wasn't asking how Clark was doing as a father of a child that wasn't his own, biological offspring. He wasn't asking if Clark truly felt like Julia's daddy.
"I'm great," Clark said, meaning it.
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. Remember when I asked you if you'd had any doubts about adopting, back in the day?"
Jonathan nodded. "I remember."
"You said that you lost all your doubts once you saw me."
"I did."
"The same thing happened to me. As soon as I saw her, my doubts were gone. She was so tiny and helpless. All I could think was that she was mine and how much I wanted to protect her."
"Well, you look really happy, son," Jonathan said, his chest puffed up with pride.
"I am happy. Everything I've ever wanted - a job, a home, someone to love, a family - it's all finally coming true. Sometimes, I can hardly believe it."
"You know, I might be a little biased, but, if anyone deserves happiness, it's you. And I'm not just saying it because you're my son, Clark. Everything that you do, every day," he said, sketching a quick S over his own chest, "for so many others - it's only right that you should get your happily ever after too."
"Thanks, Dad."
"And how's Lois taking to motherhood?"
"Really well," Clark said. "I mean, Julia's been home such a short time, but Lois has really been great with her. I know she still has her own doubts about whether or not she's doing it right, but she's a fantastic mother. It's been truly incredible to watch. It's weird, but I actually feel...well...privileged to be seeing it. Does that even make any sense?"
"It does," Jonathan said, nodding once in affirmation. "I felt the same way, watching your mother with you."
Clark smiled, feeling the warmth of the love he had for his new, perfect little family race through his body. It was as if every nerve ending was tingling with that warmth, like every cell was ready to burst, unable to contain all of that love. He was a lucky man - he knew it and pondered the wonderment of it every day. And he knew, without a doubt, that Lois felt the same way. He saw it in her eyes every time she looked at Julia. He heard it in her voice every time she spoke of their daughter. To Clark, Lois had never looked so beautiful before as she did as a mother, even in the middle of the night when they were both exhausted and disheveled from the brief catnaps they stole between feedings.
"I'm a lucky man," Clark said aloud, more to himself than to his father.
"I think so too," Jonathan said. "Lois is a wonderful woman - the very kind of woman we'd always hoped and prayed that you'd meet."
"She's pretty special," Clark agreed. "Anyone who can accept me, for who and what I truly am...I'm not sure anyone else could accept that but for Lois. And not only to accept that, but to encourage me to continue to be who I am..." His voice trailed off as he sighed contentedly.
"Have you two talked about a date yet, to make things official?"
"No, not yet. Things have been so crazy around here. I don't think we've managed to have a single conversation about anything not related to Julia since she was born." Clark smiled. He didn't mind. Anything that wasn't his daughter seemed, at the moment, to be insignificant in comparison to the wonder that was his baby girl. "Soon though, I hope."
"Me too. You and Lois are so perfect together."
"I mean, it's not such a bad situation now. We're living under the same roof, we work together, we're almost constantly together. It's amazing, getting up in the morning and having her there, going to bed at night and having her there. Sure, we had that to a certain degree before we got the house, but this is so different. It just feels...permanent. It feels like home."
Jonathan put his hand on Clark's shoulder. "That's because it is home, Clark. Not the four walls, the roof, the plot of land. The kind that's in here." He used his other hand to gently poke a finger at Clark's chest, right above his heart.
Clark nodded, then gazed back at Lois. Almost as if she felt his eyes on her, she looked up and met his glance. She smiled and darted a look at her father, who was holding Julia now. Clark nodded, just deeply enough for her to see. He gave his father one more appreciative smile, then went to join Lois.
That night, as they lay next to one another in bed, Lois sighed deeply. Clark lolled his head to the side to look at her, then promptly flipped all the way over to lay on his side.
"Honey? Is everything okay?"
A smile spread slowly across Lois' lips. "Everything is better than okay, Clark. I was just thinking."
"About?" he asked, hoping to draw out more information. There were times when he wished he also had the power to read at least Lois' mind, if no one else's.
"Did you notice anything strange today?"
"Strange?" he asked, now completely puzzled. "Like that Lucy didn't come to meet her niece, when she was one of your biggest cheerleaders once you decided that you wanted to be a mother?"
"No," Lois said. "I guess you were talking to your dad when Mom mentioned it, but Lucy thinks she's coming down with the flu. That's why she didn't come."
"Oh."
"What I meant was, did you notice how my mom and dad interacted with each other today?"
Clark racked his brain. They'd had a perfectly lovely afternoon with both sets of parents. He couldn't, for the life of him, think of anything out of the ordinary.
"I give up," he finally announced.
Lois smiled and shook her head. "They didn't fight once today, Clark. Oh, maybe there were one or two snippy comments that got tossed around by my mother, but they co-existed in the same room for hours without it turning to a verbal war."
Clark thought about it for a moment before agreeing. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I guess I was so busy enjoying our time together as a family that I hadn't noticed."
Lois stroked his cheek affectionately. "Maybe you didn't notice because today was normal for you and your family. You guys don't fight, so you don't notice when fighting is absent. For me...I've been watching my parents duke it out since I was a kid. It's almost jarring to see them getting along for once. I can barely remember the last time they were in the same room and perfectly happy to be there together."
"If it makes you feel any better, Lois, we will never be that family. You and I are meant for a lifetime of happiness with each other, and our daughter will grow up in a household where fighting is non-existent."
"How can you be so sure?" she asked sleepily.
"Because I know us," he replied. "You and I are each one half of a larger, greater whole. You are my heart, my soul, my everything."
"And you are mine," Lois said with a tired smile. She yawned. "Let's get some sleep," she said as the yawn trailed off. "We've got approximately forty-five minutes before Julia will be getting us up again." She grinned. "It's pretty incredible, isn't it?"
"That she's here, home, and healthy? You can say that again."
Lois snuggled into his side and closed her eyes. Clark kissed her on the cheek as he got himself settled. Reaching his arm back behind him, he shut off the lamp on his night stand and then put his arms around Lois. Closing his eyes, he smiled in contentment.
As far as he was concerned, he had the greatest family in the world.
To Be Continued...
